Do-Over

A long, LONG time ago, while on vacation, I visited a yarn store that was going out of business and bought their entire remaining stock of Patons Canadiana in a colorway I thought my spouse would like. I knit it into a V-neck cardigan, mostly of Shaker Rib (knit across right side, p1, knit into the stitch below across wrong side). I followed a set of instructions for knitting various types and sizes of raglan sweaters. It quickly became his favorite sweater, but there was a problem.

Former yarn store, 2008
It is now a very lovingly restored family home
Google Streetview history

The button bands were knit in stockinette at the ends of rows as you went along, then folded in half and sewn in place. So of course, over time, they sagged. I knew what the problem was. I know now to pick up 3 out of 4, or 5 out of 6 stitches (depending on the yarn weight) for a knitted-on facing or button band.

Eventually, I couldn't stand the way the sweater looked, and I took it away from him, carefully removed the buttons, and ripped it back from the bottom up, to just about an inch after the raglan sleeves were split off and the body of the sweater begun.

I put the band stubs on holders. The original band still formed the V-neck and back collar, but that was okay. Then I re-knit the body of the sweater on the remaining stitches, purposely not knitting a selvedge stitch - I wanted no confusion from slipped stitches, knowing that I would be counting rows. When I got the sweater back to the length it had been before, I left it on the needle, and went back to the bands. It turned out I was picking them back up a little after the V-neck turned and proceeded straight down the front edges, a few rows after the first buttonhole. To make my math easier, I did the button band first. I knit in stockinette, with the center stitch slipped to make the fold nicer. And at the inside edge of every other row, on the knit side, I knit the last stitch together with an edge stitch of the body. After 2 attachment rows (so 4 rows in total), I skipped the next row on the body, the equivalent of picking up 4 out of 5 stitches. When it was the right length, I left it on the needle, and counted the rows. I also counted the buttons that had come off the sweater. A little math later, I marked where the buttons would go, and knew where to place the buttonholes on the other band.

I had planned to bind off straight across the bands and body, but once I had folded the bands to the inside and sewn them down, I wound up weaving the bottom edges of each band together and just binding off the body.

Much improved

I ran it through the wash hoping to ease the kinks of the re-knit yarn, with indifferent success, then sewed the buttons back on.